the mouth of the Klastline River, and the Tahltan Indian reserve of "Tahltan 10", of the Tahltan First Nation, Geology Coal has been found in rocks exposed in the drainage of the Tuya River and its tributaries the Little Tuya River and Mansfield Creek, between the communities of Dease Lake and Telegraph Creek in northwestern BC. This coal field is called the Tuya River Coal Basin. The coal was first discovered in 1904, but the main exploration of its economic potential occurred in the late 1970s to 1990s by PetroCanada. Natural history The Tuya River drainage provides very high quality salmon spawning habitat, but fish passage is blocked by several barriers including an waterfall located about above the mouth of the Tuya and another significant barrier about upriver. In addition, a 2006 landslide created a barrier to fish passage near the mouth of the Tuya River. Chinook salmon spawn in the lowermost portion of the river, below the blockage. In the 1950s the Alaska Department of Fish and Game assessed the Tuya River as having the highest level of potential salmon spawning habitat of any transboundary river, possibly capable of supporting more sockeye salmon than the entire Stikine River. The Pacific Salmon Commission, a joint US-Canada transboundary river salmon protection regulatory body, has made the Tuya River a major component of its efforts to improve fish stocks in the Stikine River watershed. In 2008 explosives were used to blast through the fish barrier created by the 2006 landslide. Field studies in 2009 indicated that the landslide barrier had been successfully breached. Salmonid species found in the Tuya River in 2009 included Chinook salmon, sockeye salmon, coho salmon, pink salmon, rainbow trout, and bull trout. See also List of British Columbia rivers References External links Cassiar Land District Nahlin Plateau Rivers of British Columbia Stikine Country Tahltan Tlingit Tributaries of the Stikine River